


Now I'm Your Daisy

by OdotumSuojelius



Series: flower shop!universe [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, alex/george as implied ship but possibility for more, really strong maxiel friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29469012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OdotumSuojelius/pseuds/OdotumSuojelius
Summary: ”So I am trying to do this super romantic night and I thought flowers!” the boy started explaining while talking with his hands as well. ”Everyone always gets people on movies and tv shows flowers so that is romantic right? But do people actually still give flowers to others in real life?””Pretty sure I would be out of a business if they didn’t” Max said just looking at the boy brow raised. For a second he thought that this must be some joke and there are cameras somewhere but the boy seemed so relieved by his answer he was either genuine or a very good actor.- or the one where Lando keeps coming to Max's flower shop to buy flowers for his boyfriend (George). Max ends up falling for him hard. Meanwhile Lando’s relationship seems to be cracking -
Relationships: Alexander Albon/George Russell, Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen (past), Lando Norris/Max Verstappen
Series: flower shop!universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171388
Comments: 20
Kudos: 127
Collections: Winterbreak Writing Challenge (2020)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this since Christmas break and I'm so proud of this! I really hope you all enjoy this story <3 this is part of winterbreak writing challenge week 9 "Brand new world"! Title of the fic from Taylor Swift - Don't blame me 
> 
> Disclaimer: This is pure work of fiction. I do not intend that their real life counterparts are together. Just fiction
> 
> Alex's pov of what is during this story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29982705/chapters/73815150)

The day had been busy and Max was so thankful when the shop was finally empty for a moment. He had spent the morning doing funeral flowers while trying to serve the coming customers at the same time. He was used to working all of his sifts alone but this time he would have liked some help. But at least he now had a moment to go to the back and get his food.

But of course that was the moment a young guy walked to the shop looking around. He was clearly lost and Max swore under his breath before walking towards him. He rarely went out his way to be nice to the customers like ask if they need help or react to them that much. His skills would make up for that part. But right now he just wanted this boy out of his shop so he could have a moment of peace. 

“How can I help you?” Max asked right away walking closer to the boy. The boy turned around right away and smiled at Max a bit. 

“You are the owner?” he asked curiously looking at Max from head to toes. 

“Basically”, Max shrugged. I might as well be, I do everything around here anyway, Max thought before repeating the question. “How can I help you?” 

”So I am trying to do this super romantic night and I thought flowers!” the boy started explaining while talking with his hands as well. ”Everyone always gets people on movies and tv shows flowers so that is romantic right? But do people actually still give flowers to others in real life?”

”Pretty sure I would be out of a business if they didn’t” Max said just looking at the boy brow raised. For a second he thought that this must be some joke and there are cameras somewhere but the boy seemed so relieved by his answer he was either genuine or a very good actor.

”Ah thank god”, the boy smiled brightly to Max. He looked around the shop again before turning to him again. ”Now I don’t know what to get. I didn’t think this far.”

”Well leave that to me. What does she like? Favorite colors or favorite flower?”

”He.”

”I’m sorry?”

”He likes. It’s for my boyfriend.”

”Okay what does he like then?”

The boy stopped to think for a moment and look around again. Max took that as an opportunity to look at the boy. He couldn’t be much younger than he was. His hair was a mess and the hoodie he was wearing was way too big. There was something adorable about him. It was nice to have a young customer for once.

”He likes blue but like light blue… I don’t really know anything about flowers”, the boy sighed turning to Max again. There was a hint of pout on his face. ”Ugh I suck at this. Are flowers too girly to give for a boyfriend?”

”Nah I’ll make something not too girly for him”, Max gave the boy a smile before starting to pick flowers to make a pretty bouquet. He picked the flowers quickly. 

”Thank you so much”, the boy sighed relieved. It looked like an actual weight had been lifted off the boy’s shoulder. He ran his hand through his hair as Max gazed to him while working. ”I’m such a mess I know and sorry about that.”

”Lot of times my customers are over hysteric brides or crying widows coming to plan a funeral”, Max told the boy, giving him a quick smile. The boy chuckled a little. ”So you are doing really well.”

”Ah thank god”, the boy smiled. ”It’s just that is a big day. Me and my boyfriend, George, just moved to this city, actually the next door building. It’s his first day of Oxford law school and honestly he has been working towards this all his life so… I just think he deserves all the spoiling and romantic stuff possible.”

Max gazed to the boy quickly and just hummed. Working at the flower shop meant listening to people talk about their love life with either their current or passed loved ones. He had hardened his heart enough not to care but what the boy was telling was actually quite cute. He was clearly a good boyfriend. 

”Sorry”, the boy said cheeks blushed a bit embarrassed. ”I bet you don’t get this chatty customers… just bit nervous.”

”Honestly no”, Max chuckled and turned to give the ready bouquet to the boy. ”But makes working more interesting and now you have this to give to your boyfriend.”

”Ooh this is so pretty wow”, the boy smiled excited turning the bouquet around in his hands. Max felt his cheeks blush a little. ”You are so talented just wow. This isn’t girly at all. How much I owe you?”

”25”, Max said simple avoiding the boy’s gaze just getting redder. ”And thanks.”

He did get compliments and he knew he was good at what he did but this excitement made his heart beat a bit harder. The boy gave him the money right away with the biggest smile. Max found it hard not to smile back too widely.

”Thank you so much again”, the boy smiled taking steps towards the door. ”You are definitely my go-to guy with flowers now.”

”You are welcome”, Max smiled to the boy. Before the boy opened the door to leave Max opened his mouth again before even thinking. ”And welcome to the neighborhood… I live upstairs of this so…”

”Ooh a neighbour basically then!” the boy smiled excited to him. ”Awesome. I’m Lando by the way.”

”I’m Max.”

”Nice to meet you Max. I gotta run. See you again maybe?”

Max nodded a little to the boy. He doubted that but he was still feeling warm happiness inside him. The boy - Lando - smiled to Max brightly and gave him a wave before leaving the shop. I wish every customer was like that, Max thought as he walked to the backroom.

Good deed of the day done, Max thought smiling to himself still thinking about Lando.

#

Max admitted that he had a horrible face memory. He also didn’t care that much about the emotional baggage the customers came with. If the same customer would come in twice in the same day he wouldn’t probably notice anything weird about it. Customers were just faces he didn’t remember.

But when Lando came in two weeks after the first meeting, Max remembered the boy right away. Mostly because the boy looked just as lost as the first time.

”Oh Max I need your help”, Lando almost ran to the counter. Max lifted his gaze from his computer where he was doing flower orders. It had been more of a quiet day. “Desperately!”

“I hope it’s something that involves flowers”, Max told Lando with a little smile. He hadn’t actually thought the boy would be back but there he was. “And not a body that you need to hide.”

“I said you are my go-to flower guy not my go-to partner in crime”, Lando shot back with a grin. Max snorted at that which made Lando just smile more before remembering why he was there. “Okay so George’s parents are coming over in like an hour and I want to impress so like do you have some flowers I could put somewhere in the apartment so it would look fancier?”

”What does your apartment look like?” Max asked as he closed his laptop. Lando looked at Max confused. ”I mean like what colours you have and stuff so the flowers would actually fit the decor and… yeah?”

”Oh… we have curtains that have light blue and red… George’s favorite colours.”

”What’s your favorite colour?” 

”That doesn’t really matter right now… Is George’s parents I am trying to impress…”

”What’s your favorite colour Lando?”

”Light neon green.”

Max gave Lando a smile before starting to gather the flowers. He wouldn’t make anything fancy just some baby blue and red carnation mixed together and some beautiful light neon green threads go around it. He felt Lando’s eyes follow him as he gathered what he needed. 

”Do George’s parents not like you or why you try to impress them so much?” Max asked to fill the silence and break Lando’s staring.

”Oh they do… I think”, Lando told Max shrugging. Max gave him a curious look. ”I mean they do but George is like their star boy and I feel like they aren’t that impressed with my career choice… but I would say they like me even if I won’t be a lawyer.”

”What do you do then?” Max asked Lando as he started tying the flowers together. ”You a student too?”

”Yeah for coding and stuff… also I like drawing a lot. So as a side hustle I also try to work as a graphic designer… that looks amazing by the way just like the first one. You actually own this place?”

Max gave Lando the ready bouquet with blushed cheeks. Lando’s compliments felt somehow special. They were so genuine and the boy was always so happy saying them. 

”Not really”, Max told Lando softly. ”This is owned by this really sweet old woman but she fell in love with some rich guy and they are traveling the world together. That kinda left me incharge.” 

”Wow but you can’t be much more than like twenty right?” Lando asked clearly both surprised and impressed. Max’s cheeks just blushed more and he nodded. ”Are you the only worker? How do you do it?”

”Technically no”, Max shrugged a little. ”The owner’s grandson and well my… friend Daniel comes by to do shifts sometimes and help me when needed. But I am doing fine. Been working here for a long time already.”

”Daniel is a boyfriend?”

”No.”

”An ex boyfriend?”

”Closer but not really.”

Daniel had been more of a ”kind stranger who saved him and who he had fallen for” but now they were friends. Daniel became busy with his actual work but was still kind enough to come help Max. He owed so much to Daniel and yet the older man still kept helping him. Max smiled a little thinking about him while Lando was just looking at him curious. 

”Not to try and get you away or something but aren’t George’s parents gonna be at your place quite soon?” Max asked carefully while Lando didn’t make any move to leave even after paying.

”Oh yeah”, Lando said checking his clock. ”It just feels good to actually talk to someone other than super nerdy people in school or George… I’m not bothering you am I?”

”No you are fun to talk to”, Max shrugged with a little smile. It wasn’t like he himself had that many interesting people to talk to during the days. Lando smiled brightly. ”Actually you want to like change numbers or something… neighbour.”

”Oh my god yes!” Lando said excited giving his phone to him right away. ”You play cod or Fifa or something? We could play online or something? And just text and all!”

Max nodded right away to Lando with a smile and typed his number to his phone. He messaged his own phone to get Lando’s number before giving the phone back.the. The boy smiled brightly but before he was able to say anything his phone started ringing. Max saw George’s name flash on the phone. 

”Ah shit I need to go”, Lando said hanging up the call but quickly typing a text. Lando gave Max a smile. ”I will text you and thanks again!”

Max smiled and nodded. He gave Lando a smile as the other boy hurried out of the shop. I really wish he comes back for a third time, Max found himself thinking.

#

”You do realise that I come to do these shifts so you wouldn’t have to spend all your time in this shop?” Daniel asked Max smiling his usual big smile. ”You don’t have to be here and monitor me.”

It was Saturday and the shop was open a shorter time. Daniel had promised to do the whole shift that Max would finally have a full free day. The problem just was that Max didn’t really have anything else to do but sit in the backroom and talk to Daniel. He thought it was enough that he got the Sunday off when the shop was fully closed. He already spent those days watching Netflix, playing and sleeping.

”I’m not monitoring you”, Max noted with a smile looking up from his phone. ”I just don’t have anything better to do. I like hanging with you so…” 

”Oh I know I’m great to be around”, Daniel chuckled a little peaking to the shop side quickly before focusing on Max again. ”So who you texting to? What’s his name?”

Max felt his cheeks blush a little and he avoided Daniel’s gaze. He and Lando had been texting to each other every day since they exchanged numbers. It had started with Lando just sending memes to him but soon they were texting through the days. Max found himself checking his phone even if there weren't any messages. 

”No one”, Max said cheeks blushed but Daniel gave him a knowing smile. Max sighed a little. ”Okay his name is Lando. He came here to get flowers for his boyfriend and… we text now.”

”You trying to get him to break up with his boyfriend?” Daniel asked almost excited. ”Ooh Maxy that is naughty but go for it! Is he hot?”

”I’m not trying to bre- we are just friends Daniel”, Max groaned to his friend. He heard the door to the shop open. Thank god, he thought. ”Daniel customers want you.”

”This isn’t the end of this conversation.”

Yes it is, Max thought looking at Daniel go. He and Lando were friends and only friends. Lando was really funny and he was easy to talk to. Okay Lando also looked quite good but that Max tried to ignore. Lando had George anyway and he didn’t try to break them up. They were friends.

And Max needed a friend. He had moved out of his hometown as soon as high school had ended and his old friends all stayed behind. He ran into Daniel when he was desperate and ended up getting the job with his help. When Daniels’s grandma Julia had left the shop, he spent the days working and evenings alone in his apartment. A friend would be a nice addition.

”No Max no”, Daniel came back just as Max was grabbing the flower catalogue to go through new flowers to order. ”Today is your free day. You are now going to get up and text your new friend to meet you. You need fresh air and we can hang together tomorrow all day.”

Max pouted to Daniel but his friend just shook his head and grabbed his arm pulling him up and pushing him out. Max sighed grabbing his jacket on his way out. Well texting Lando was an option. He took his phone texting Lando again. The answer came quickly.

’sorry me and george just going to movies. let’s see another time”

Well at least I tried, Max thought and just headed up to his apartment ignoring the little ache in his chest.

#

The other time came surprisingly fast when Lando came to the shop only a few days later.

Max was just about to close the shop. He was just going through the inventory as the last thing to do. Honestly he had wanted to close the shop already hours ago. The nine hour work day had been full of customers with planning flowers for two weddings and getting few orders ready. He was almost ready to snap at the customer when the door opened one minute before closing but when he saw Lando he didn’t.

”Are you still open?” Lando said panting. He had clearly ran to the shop. Max nodded to him smiling right away. For you yes, he thought. ”Ah thank god is mine and George’s anniversary and I almost forgot. You need to do like the most fancy bouquet ever. He has been so stressed about school lately.”

Ah of course, Max thought disappointed but started getting flowers. He felt like he knew -sadly- enough about George to know what he would like. He could sometimes hear George’s voice when he was on a discord call with Lando while playing. Hearing Lando call George honey and how his voice changed always made Max feel uneasy. 

”How long have you been together?” Max forced himself to ask to be nice. ”And didn’t school just start? How is he already stressed?”

”It’s Oxford that’s why”, Lando shrugged a little leaning against the counter. ”I don’t really get it either but it is what it is… And two years together.”

Max gave Lando a smile before focusing fully on just making the bouquet. Two years and Lando was even younger than him. Damn, Max thought. Lando started looking around the shop suddenly walking around.

”I tried googling this shop”, Lando started. Max looked up confused. ”You don’t have a website. You do have an instagram but you barely post on it which you should do much more come on your bouquets are like art.”

”Why have you been googling my shop?” Max asked confused. Lando kept surprising him. ”And it’s not me who updates the instagram. I don’t care about social media.”

”Because I am going to use this place as my next school project”, Lando smiled brightly. ”And who updates it then? You know with better posting you would get more customers.”

”What do you mean next school project? And Daniel does instagram for this place.”

”The kinda ex boyfriend but not really Daniel?”

”Yes I don’t have other Daniels in my life.”

Or other people for that matter, Max thought. Lando kept walking around the shop like scanning the place before taking his phone out and starting to take pictures with his phone. Max found himself smiling a bit. 

”What school project Lando?” Max asked from him when Lando wasn’t giving him an answer.

”I have to do a website for some company so congrats I picked you”, Lando smiled excited to Max. ”And I am also gonna take charge of the instagram or teach you how to take care of it. Oh this will be great.”

”Do I have say in this?” Max asked with a smile. Lando shook his head with the biggest smile. ”Okay then… thanks.”

It would probably mean more time spent with Lando and Max definitely was okay with that. More than okay. He finished the bouquet actually quite proud of it. Lando was meanwhile focused on a few carnivorous plants by the window. Max walked over to him offering the flowers.

“Wow this is another masterpiece!” Lando smiled excited taking the flowers to his hands. Max felt his cheeks blush but the moment was quickly broken by Lando’s next words. “George is gonna love this.”

Ah yes, Max thought and just nodded a bit. Of course George will love it. Max looked at Lando and took a picture of the bouquet smiling. 

“This is the first thing I’m going to post when I get your instagram”, Lando said right away smiling brightly. He turned back to what he had been looking at before. “What is that?”

“It’s a venus flytrap”, Max said forcing a smile. “You can feed flies to it.” 

“Oh my god I want at least two right away!” 

Lando left the shop five minutes later with three flytraps in his bag and the bouquet in his hand. Max sighed just looking at Lando go before going back to closing the shop. George was a lucky guy, he thought. 

#

“What’s the password to the shop’s instagram?” Max asked Daniel while the older man was getting beers for them from the fridge. “You remember it?”

He was sitting on Daniel’s living room sofa just looking at the landscape in front of him. Daniel’s actual job in the finance world was clearly going well since he was able to afford a penthouse from the best part of the city. Max had a hard time understanding why Daniel even wanted to ever come do shifts at the shop when he had all of this. Or more like how did he have time for it all. 

“Why are you asking?” Daniel came back with a confused look on his face. He gave Max a beer bottle as he sat next to him on the sofa. “Last time I checked you haven’t posted anything on your own instagram for like a year. You want to start posting on the shop’s ig now?”

“It’s not for me”, Max shrugged taking a big sip from the bottle. “It’s for Lando. He has some plans for it.”

“Who the hell is La- Oh Lando!” Daniel’s confused face changed to a bright smile in seconds. Max felt his cheeks blush. That kept happening way too often now. “He wants to take care of ig? You guys talking a lot? He still together with the boyfriend?”

“I think he just wants for me to use it more I’m not sure. He actually is going to also make a website for the shop as a school thing. I didn’t have a say in this. He is just gonna do us one but he texted me some ideas and they aren’t bad.”

“Okay I guess I could give the password to him… What about the other questions?”

“What other questions?”

“The ones you are avoiding answering to, you dumbie. You guys still talking a lot? Is he still with his boyfriend? Have you make a move yet?”

“Yes we talk a lot. Yes he is with his boyfriend and turns out they have been together for like two years. And no I have not make a move and I’m not going to make one. We are just friends. Now change the topic please.”

Daniel lifted his hands as a sign of giving up but the look he still gave Max made Max sigh. Just friends, Max thought just sipping on his beer. He was totally fine with it. It’s not like he really had interest in a relationship or time… And Lando was with George anyway. They seemed perfect together. 

Max put the beer on the table just moving closer to Daniel. Daniel wrapped his free arm around Max right away letting the younger boy snuggle to his side. Max tried hiding a little yawn as he pressed his head on Daniel’s chest. 

“Okay change of topic”, Daniel said with a calm voice. “When will you finally hire some help to the shop? You know Julia would be more than happy to make sure you are not overworking yourself. You look tired Max.”

“I don’t want to work with anyone but Julia or you”, Max groaned but at the same time yawned again. “It would feel wrong and I’m doing fine… Okay yeah I yawned a bit but it was just a bad night of sleep.”

Daniel sighed a little looking at Max before pushing himself enough to put his own beer away. When he leaned back on the sofa he slumped down pulling Max to a more comfortable position. He even pulled a blanket from the back of the sofa to cover the boy. 

“Okay okay”, Daniel sighed a little. “But if you start to look more tired I’m hiring you help.”

Max simply nodded to that while closing his eyes. He focused on listening to Daniel’s heartbeat slowly falling asleep. I’m fine, he thought. 

#

”Have you planned your wedding?”

Max looked up from the flower arrangement he was doing giving Lando a confused look. It was Friday afternoon and they were in the backroom of the shop. Max was focused on doing arrangements for Daniel’s friends’ wedding while also checking the shop side for customers. Lando was meanwhile doing finishing touches on the website. 

”Planned my wedding?” Max asked confused from his friend. Lando nodded to him. ”Why would I do that? I’m not even dating anyone.”

”Yeah but you do lot of flowers for weddings so”, Lando shrugged a little. He moved to get another glass vase for Max for the ready flowers. ”You never thought about it?”

”No”, Max said simply finally getting the arrangement ready. Only many left, Max thought, sighing and checking phone wishing Daniel would message him and come for help. ”But one thing is sure. I won’t do so freaking many flowers as these two… ugh.”

”You think I could help you?” Lando asked Max turned to take more flowers and peaking to the shop side. ”Is something so simple I could do it?”

”Nah you focus on the website. Daniel promised to come help when he gets off work… which he did an hour ago.”

”Okay… Those are really pretty arrangements by the way. The blue, white and silver… pretty!”

”Yeah that is the theme for Lewis and Nico’s wedding apa- ugh!”

Max threw the flowers on the table and headed to the shop side when he heard the alarm of a new customer coming in. He noticed Lando give him a worried look but he brushed it off quickly going to serve the customers. Yes this is was maybe a bit too much to do at the moment but he will be fine.

Max got back to the backroom after twenty minutes again. At least he would be able to close the shop soon and focus fully on getting the wedding flowers ready. He checked his phone getting excited when he saw two voice messages from Daniel. Finally he thought as he pressed play on the message not caring Lando would hear it. 

”So sorry Maxy. I’m stuck at work. Meeting run long and now getting drinks sorry but is important. You able to handle all the flowers? I can try come later if I manage to get out of this somehow… Sorry.”

”Remember I’ll come pick you up at one tomorrow. Be ready in your suit! Good luck Max"

Max sighed putting his phone away to the table and just sat down rubbing his face. He would be able to close the shop in like forty minutes and focus fully on the flowers. He would be ready maybe before ten. Then just shower and bed. 

"Why do you need a suit for tomorrow?" Lando' s voice bought Max back to reality. Max gave Lando a confused look. "Daniel's second message said he will pick you up and suit."

"Oh yeah I am also going to this stupid wedding as Daniel's date", Max sighed. He noticed a little frown on Lando's face. "He insisted. That is why I am only keeping shop open in the morning tomorrow… Apparently I need a break from work."

"Ex boyfriend starting to sound lot like current boyfriend", Lando hummed before shaking his head a little and smiling again. "Okay you will now continue with the flowers and I will go grab us some food and energy drinks. And I agree that you need a break." 

Max tried telling Lando to just go home but the younger boy was quickly out of the door. Max smiled a little looking at Lando go. There Max was being grumpy and frustrated. Possibly the worst version of himself. But Lando still wanted to spend time with him. That made his heart beat a bit faster.

There are no more customers during the last minutes and Max is thankful for that. Just as he is closing the shop Lando comes back carrying a big bag of take away from taco bell and six pack of redbull. Max has never been more grateful for actually trying to be friends with someone. Lando was amazing.

”Okay break time”, Lando declared as Max got another arrangement ready. Max pouted to Lando a little. ”No pouting! You sit. Eat. Drink. Watch the new website!”

”Wait you finished it?” Max asked surprised. Lando smiled brightly nodding turning his laptop towards the other boy. Max sat next to Lando right and finally grabbed some of the food Lando had brought. ”You are fast.”

”Good that my speed impresses you”, Lando smirked to Max. He pushed more food towards Max and even opened another redbull for him before starting to show the site.

Max stared at the website eyes wide open. It was better than he had ever imagined. Soft darker green as background colour while light pink and blue as a construct. There were beautiful pictures from the shop and flowers. Everything was easy to find and Max knew even Julia would be over the moon with this. 

”Lando this is amazing”, Max said smiling to his friend brightly. Lando blushed a little at that. ”I feel like I gotta pay you for this it’s so good but… wait you did draw a new logo for this place?”

”Yeah about that”, Lando smile turned bit nervous. ”But the old one is kinda… well old. So I was just playing around with ideas and came up with never fresher logo… You know so people don’t assume that some 70 year old woman is running this place when in fact there is this sweet and hot early twenties guy running this place.”

”You think I am hot?” Max asked the only thing sticking out for him from the speech. 

”Well yeah you are”, Lando shrugged and gave Max a little smile. “So want to use the new logo?”

”I ha-”, Max started but stopped before finishing his sentence.

He was going to say he has to ask Julia about it but when she left, she told Max to make the shop his own. Then he thought about asking Daniel but he is too pissed at him right now to care about his opinion. Also Lando called him hot. That felt really good.

”Yeah definitely”, Max smiled brightly. ”I want that logo everywhere honestly.”

Lando smiled back brightly, his cheeks blushed. He started typing something on the computer while Max finished eating for a bit. He got up again to continue with the flowers. I can do this, he told himself.

”Oh I asked Daniel for the password for instagram”, Max remembered suddenly. Lando grabbed his phone right away opening the app. ”It’s honeybadger3… Don’t ask Daniel is weird.”

“So who this Daniel really is?” Lando asked while logging to the instagram account. Max felt him gazing at him. “I mean I know he is not an ex boyfriend but also sounds like a current boyfriend blaah blaah… Who is he really?”

”Not a boyfriend or ex boyfriend just a best friend”, Max hummed focusing his gaze fully on the flowers. ”I moved to this city as soon as I finished school just wanting to leave that life. I was in a party way too drunk and Daniel - a total stranger at the time - saved me from anything bad happening and got me safe.”

”I was a bit of a mess at the time and spilled all my life on him”, Max continued but smiled a bit. He is forever grateful for Daniel. ”His grandma aka Julia happened to have a place upstairs empty and needed a helper here since Daniel was getting busy with uni… That’s who Daniel is. A guardian angel.”

Max loved Daniel with all his heart and even if he wanted to be angry at him for ditching him now he knew already tomorrow he would forget about all of it. Daniel was the only person he ever opened up to… or well he used to be. It felt good to talk to tell Lando bits of his life. Suddenly Max felt arms wrap around him tightly. 

”I’m glad you have had Daniel looking after you”, Lando said softly while just hugging Max sideways. “I hope you understand how awesome you are.”

Max didn’t know what to say or do. He was sure his whole heart burst out of chest if he reacted in any way. When Lando started pulling away, Max quickly dropped the flowers from his hands and just pulled Lando back from his hands holding his hands against his middle. Lando leaned back to the just pressing his forehead on Max’s shoulder for a moment. 

Max wasn’t sure how long the moment lasted but it was too short. When Lando pulled away from him, all Max wanted to do was pull him back. Max fought the pout away and just smiled to Lando before going back to doing the flowers while Lando sat down taking his phone again. 

They stayed quiet, just the radio filling the room with faint music. Max focused on getting the arrangement ready before taking a break to sip on his redbull again. He gazed at Lando who was focusing on editing a photo on instagram. The anniversary flowers. Do not ruin this, Max told himself biting his lower lip. Do not ruin this good moment. 

“Did George like those flowers?” Max asked forcing his gaze away from the phone. There you go, Max thought to himself. Lando gazed to him. “Did you get anything from him?”

“Oh yeah he loved them so much”, Lando smiled but it wasn’t the usual happy one. It was tense. “And he didn’t get me anything… He forgot about the whole day but it’s fine because I almost forgot too so… and he is stressed with school so.”

“He got you nothing?” Max asked frowning a litte. You are making this worse, he told himself but continued. “Where is he tonight? Wouldn’t he want to do something with you after a long school week?”

“He did get me my favorite candy the next day as an apology but like I said it’s fine”, Lando said just continuing with the photo starting to write the caption. “And he is at our place with his new school friend Alex. Having a study session and I don’t know probably playing together.”

“But it’s Friday. They study on Friday? And you don’t like Alex?”

“Yeah apparently when you go to Oxford you study every day… And Alex is a cool guy. Really sweet and fun and I have hung with them but… if I have to hear about another criminal law I’ll throw their law books out of the window.”

“Law must be like the most boring subject to study...“

“Painfully boring… especially to the law student’s partner… But it’s George’s dream and one day he is going to be an amazing lawyer.”

Max stopped doing the flowers just looking at Lando. The younger boy kept looking at the phone in his hands. Max knew these were his weak moments. Actually the whole being social seemed to be his weak moment but when he needed to be comforting he locked up. He wished he could just hug Lando so easily like the other boy just had but couldn’t even get himself to bring a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“You wanna hear the absolutely awful websites some of the weirdos in my class are doing?” Lando asked suddenly breaking the silence and changing the topic. He put the phone away just turning to smile at Max. Max looked to Lando still wanting to find some words to comfort him but giving up. He gave Lando a smile and nodded. 

They spent the rest of the night like that. Lando telling stories about his very disturbing classmates while Max managed to get all the flowers ready. There were a lot of stories and Max had to stop working a couple of times just because he was laughing so bad. He told Lando some stories about his old football team back in hometown. Lando’s laugh made Max feel butterflies in his stomach. 

“I can’t believe you stayed with me the whole time while I did those flowers”, Max smiled to Lando softly as he leaned against the backdoor’s frame. It’s almost ten o'clock and all the flowers are finally ready for the next day. “Thank you so much Lando.”

“No problem”, Lando smiled back at Max. “I had fun time so it was good. And you know remember what is your job for tomorrow right?”

“Take a picture of one of the arrangements in the wedding and post the picture”, Max said rolling his eyes but still smiled. Lando smiled brightly and nodded. “Good night Lando.”

“Night Max”, Lando said softly pulling his bag on better as he headed to the street. 

Max leaned against the wall just looking at Lando go. Before Lando disappeared he turned to look at Max and gave him a wave. Max felt his heart melt at that and waved back. Fuck I’m so gone for that boy, he thought as he closed the door. 

The wedding itself was fine. The whole place had been decorated fitting to the theme with a lot of lights and Max’s flowers. All the work that went to them felt worth it when he saw them in their places. He took a picture of a few the way Lando had told him to and posted it to the shop’s instagram. 

Max also ended up updating his own instagram with a picture Dan took of him with fairy lights in the back. He battled whether to post it or not but in the end Daniel grabbed the phone and pressed post before Max had a chance. Lando was there to comment on the picture only minutes after posting it. 

‘Damn **🔥’**

Max couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the night. 

#

Max was half asleep on his sofa when there was a knock on the door. It was Saturday evening and the whole week had been hell. Daniel had left for some business trip after the wedding which had meant that Max had done every shift of the week. On top of that he had had trouble with the flower wholesale. 

Max groaned a little when there was another knock on the door. So I didn’t imagine the knock, Max thought walking to the door. If it was some jesus freaks he would just shout at them to leave. He stretched a bit before opening the door already ready to start shouting but it wasn’t a stranger. It was Lando.

”Hey!” Lando said brightly to Max before the boy had even a chance to react. Lando was standing there with a big smile and a big pizza box in his hands. ”I ordered a huge pizza for me and George but well he got busy with friends so… wanna help me destroy this?”

Max stood there staring at Lando before just nodding and opening the door more to him. His mind was still bit hazy from waking up but if he Lando wanted to spend time with his he wouldn’t say no. Lando smiled excited walking in and looking around.

”Yay!” Lando said excited walking in looking around. ”Aww this is so cute.”

”It’s a mess right now”, Max groaned a bit embarrassed quickly starting to pick some clothes off the floor. ”Sorry about that.”

Max quickly gathered the clothes he had just thrown around the apartment. The apartment wasn’t too big. There was a small kitchen and a kitchen aisle in one corner. There was a big sofa in the middle of the apartment with a coffee table and a big tv in front of it. The corner there was Max’s game computer. There was a small bedroom added to the apartment but it didn’t fit much more than Max’s bed. What was most noticeable was all the plants around the place. 

”Oh is fine”, Lando said kicking his shoes off and walking towards the sofa where Max shoved him to sit. Max felt a little nervous from the way Lando was looking around. Only Daniel had ever been to the apartment. ”So you really like plants and flowers huh. This is so cute honestly.” 

”Glad you like it”, Max said cheeks blushed as he threw clothes to his bedroom floor to hide. He walked to fridge to get a cola bottle from there. ”So a pizza party?”

”Uh yeah”, Lando gave Max a bit of a tense smile and rubbed the back of his neck. ”We were supposed to have a movie night together but… school stuff you know… I didn’t interrupt anything right? Shark tank marathon?”

Lando nodded towards the tv where someone was trying to make a deal about baby socks. I don’t even remember watching that, Max thought as he sat down next to Lando with a cola bottle and glasses for them. He wrapped the blanket around him a bit. 

”Nah I wasn’t doing anything”, Max shrugged with a smile. Lando gave him a smile as he opened the box revealing the huge salami pizza in it. ”Thanks for coming to feed me honestly… Sorry about George though.”

”Don’t wanna talk or think about it”, Lando said giving Max a piece of pizza before taking one for himself. He leaned against the sofa looking to tv. ”Just want to have a fun night with my friend.”

Max nodded to Lando with a smile. That he could provide for Lando and was happy to. He still thought about George though feeling sad for Lando but mostly angry. How could George be so busy all the time? If Lando was my boyfriend I would never be too busy for him, Max thought just looking at Lando. 

There was no question over his feelings anymore. He had a crush on Lando. A bad crush. Being around Lando was natural and felt really good. The other boy made him laugh and blush all the time. He spent the days checking his phone to see if there were new messages and nights he stayed up some nights a bit too late just to be able to play with Lando a bit more. 

If he was optimistic and really squinted his eyes, he would say Lando maybe also had some feelings for him but he didn’t want to give it hope. Lando had George after all and even if they had some rough patch now George on a bad day was probably better than him on a good day, he thought. 

They destroyed the pizza easily while just letting the Shark Tank run on the tv them commenting on whatever company was being presented. Max leaned against the sofa just smiling at Lando as the younger boy started another passionate rant about how stupid the sharks were.

”Like they are so fucking creedy with their money”, Lando growled at the tv throwing his hand towards the tv. ”Like they are millionaires I’m sure that the- Max you asleep?”

”Huh?” Max opened his eyes not even realising he had closed them. Max rubbed his face a little while Lando just looked at him worried. ”Sorry I… It was a rough week since I did every shift alone and… Just a bit tired but I wanna spend time with you.”

”Max you look exhausted”, Lando said worriedly moving a bit closer to Max reaching to push Max’s fallen hair off his forehead. Max leaned against Lando’s hand automatically finding it comforting. ”I can leave so you get to sleep. I don’t mind.”

”No I want to hang out with you please don’t go. We can start playing Fifa or something please Lando.”

”Max you… Okay what we gonna do is you are gonna take power nap and then if you feel better we can play. So now put your head on my lap and start sleeping.”

Max looked at Lando like the other boy had lost his mind. Lando wanted him to sleep on him? That was surely breaking some line. Lando took a flat pillow placing it on his lap and showing Max to come to him with a soft smile. Max still looked to him unsure even though his mind was screaming to snuggle to Lando and never let go.

”Ar- are you sure?” Max asked carefully moving bit closer when Lando nodded right away. ”You will be all bored… And you want me to sleep on you?”

”It’s not sleeping on me come on Max”, Lando moved himself to bit better position. ”It will be comfy for you and I won't get bored. I have time to start think what project I could take to Shark Tank.”

Max chuckled a little but didn’t move closer. Lando sighed dramatically and grabbed Max’s arm pulling him closer. I guess we are doing this, Max thought and slowly laid his head on the boy’s lap face towards the tv. Land pulled the blanket better on Max just leaving his fingers go up and down on Max’s arm. Maybe this is just a dream, Max thought, smiling a little. It felt really good to be close to Lando. Max closed his eyes slowly.

Next time Max opened his eyes it was about thirty minutes later. Lando’s fingers had moved to play with Max’s hair. The Shark Tank was still on faintly in the background. Lando wasn’t focused on it though. Lando had his phone on his lap conversation with George open in it. Max stayed as still as possible as he read the messages.

’Lando I am sorry’

’We both said things we shouldn’t have’

’When are you coming back? Where are you?’

’It was only a stupid fight’

’i come back when i am feel like it’

’w/ a friend now dont worry’

So George wasn’t at some friend’s place studying. He and Lando had fought and Lando had came to him for a… for something, Max thought. He felt both taken by the fact that Lando came for him but weird that Lando had lied to him. Max closed his eyes again taking a moment before starting to move pretending to wake up. Lando didn’t need to know he had seen the messages.

”Ooh did you have a good nap?” Lando asked softly from Max puttings his phone away as fast as possible. Max moved so that he was looking up to Lando with a smile while Lando ran his fingers through Max’s hair. ”You are adorable when you sleep.”

”Oh fuck off”, Max chuckled a little cheeks blushed. He slowly pushed himself to sit up stretching his arms. Lando’s smile turned smug. ”But yeah it was a good nap… Did you come up with what you taking to Shark Tank?”

”I have some ideas”, Lando chuckled but Max noticed him gaze to his phone before smiling at Max again. ”Nothing official yet… Fifa now?”

”Of course”, Max smiled walking to get controllers to them. ”You have to tell me idea before you go to the tank though. I wanna invest all my little money on it.”

”Oh honey you are coming to the tank with me as my business partner.”

Business partner… Fine I will take that if life partner is off the table, Max thought, laughing a little as he gave the controller to Lando. He slumped down next to Lando right next to him letting their legs touch. Maybe this was what Lando needed.

They played for hours changing between different games. In the end they were back to just having the tv on the background while they sat together. Lando had placed his head on Max’s shoulder while Max’s arm had found a way around his waist. Blanket was over both of their laps.

”Max?” Lando tried to hide a yawn. Max hummed as an answer. ”Is it okay if I stay the night here? I sleep on the sofa, don't worry.” 

”Of course but you can take the bed”, Max said right away moving a little. ”I take the sofa. You are the guest.”

”Yeah I’m the guest so I take the sofa”, Lando told Max with a smile. Max felt his heart flutter. ”Please Max.”

Max looked at Lando before nodding. He could never tell Lando no. Max loaned his shirt and shorts for the other boy and got blanket and pillows for him. Before he left to his bedroom, they spent a few minutes just hugging each other in the living room. 

”Good night Max.”

”Good night Lando”

Max pressed a kiss to Lando’s hair before slowly letting go off him. Lando gave him one more smile before getting to lay on the sofa. Max got to his bedroom falling on the bed taking a deep breath. Oh I’m so gone, he thought.

Max’s night was restless. He kept turning and tossing on his bed thinking about the night and Lando. How good it felt to hold Lando. How Lando seemed to also like his touch. How Lando had came to him. How Lando had lied to him. How things between George and Lando were clearly bad. How he could be so much better for Lando. How he would probably be worse for Lando. 

”You sure you don’t want to stay for breakfast?” Max asked looking at Lando get his shoes on. Max covered a yawn with his hand. ”i’m sure I have something in the fridge for us.”

Max had woken up to Lando’s soft knock on the bedroom door to tell him he was leaving. It was still early in the morning and by the look of it Lando hadn’t slept much either. It was breaking Max’s heart to look at Lando go. He wanted to hug him. Help him when he looked so miserable. Hug him like it seemed so natural for Lando to hug him.

But that wasn’t something Max did. Even if he wanted to.

”Yeah I have already been here long enough”, Lando stood up with a smile. Max smiled as well. ”And maybe George is already home so… Thank you Max for everything!”

Lando pulled Max to another hug. Max wrapped his arms around Lando a bit tighter than necessary not wanting to let go. George surely was home, Max thought. Had been this whole time. 

”Bye”, Lando gave Max a smile and wave before leaving the apartment and breaking Max’s heart.

#

Max sent a message to ask if everything was okay with George later that day. He got a simply answer ’everything good 🙂’. He knew he should have been happy about that response but he it pained him. Lando was happy… Lando was happy. 

They continued messaging each other normally through the days and playing almost every day together through discord. Sometimes the other boy came to have lunch at the shop with Max. Lando seemed like everything was okay and that was good. 

Lando stayed the next weekend back at his hometown at his parents’ place. Max meanwhile spent it on Daniel’s sofa while stalking all stories Lando posted from the weekend.

”Max don’t get me wrong, I like seeing you actually have feelings”, Max glared at Daniel’s joke right away but the Aussie just smiled brightly. ”But this is getting kinda pathetic.”

”Ugh”, Max pouted to Daniel which only made the older man laugh at him. ”I like him, Daniel I really do but he has Geor- Okay yeah I’m pathetic.”

Daniel chuckled, wrapping arm around Max pulling him close. Max growled at him but just closed his eyes taking a deep breath. I’m so stupid, Max thought gazing to his phone. 

”Max maybe you need to take a break from Lando”, Daniel told Max softly pressing a kiss to his hair. ”I know you like him and honestly from everything you have told me it sounds like he might have feelings for you but also he is in a relationship Max. So maybe some distance helps you both?”

Max couldn’t do anything but nodd at that. Daniel was right. Maybe distance would calm his feelings for a moment and then he could focus on just being good friends with the boy. Yeah that was the plan, Max thought.

#

Taking distance was hard. Especially because Max didn’t really even want that. He knew it was the right thing but it sucked. He somehow managed to message Lando a little less and only play with him once during the next week. They had planned on going to grab something to eat on the Saturday evening. Max couldn’t find himself to say no to Lando once again. That plan however took a turn when a man walked to Max’s shop early in the Saturday morning.

George.

Max’s eyes widened for a moment when George walked into the shop. He had seen enough pictures of George on Lando’s lockscreen and instagram to be sure this was George. Very tall, extremely lean, super handsome. Yep this was George.

Though this George looked different from the pictures. He was pale and there were bags under his eyes. His eyes were red and his clothes looked like they had been slept in by the amount of wrinkles in them. He looked miserable.

”Hey I need… need like the biggest flower bouquet you can make”, George said with a hint of panic in his voice. Max just stared at him. ”Like the fanciest one please…”

Max had been playing with Lando last night before going to bed. Lando had mentioned that George had gone to some party. That had been followed quickly by Lando saying again that they were doing great. Now though… Something had clearly happen in the party.

”What is their favorite color?” Max asked starting to gather the flowers slowly. He knew exactly the answer to that. 

”Green”, George answered simple taking his phone out and checking it quickly. He was moving around nervously.

Not quite right, Max thought, already grabbing the light neon green flowers he always saw Lando look at in the shop. Max started tying the bouquet while gazing at George. He had had enough customers come in after making a mistake and thinking they could fix everything with flowers. 

”Flowers don't usually fix the mistake”, Max told George as he gave the ready bouquet to the man. George looked at Max swallowing hard. ”Honesty might.”

George nodded simply giving the money to Max before heading out of the shop. Max leaned against the wall taking a deep breath. George had fucked up, he should be happy. But fuck he only felt awful for Lando. 

I’m in such a mess, Max thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments and kudos are very much appreciated! I will post the second part of this on Friday! 
> 
> Moodboard I made for this fic on my tumblr [here](https://maxynorris.tumblr.com/post/643301683344080896/fic-moodboard-now-im-your-daisy-or-the-one)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support :3 I hope you all enjoy... we gonna go through some pain

’i need a place to stay’

’come here’

That is possible the most stupid answer ever, Max thought to himself as he stared at his and Lando’s conversation on his phone. He didn’t have time to dwell on it however, starting to get the apartment clean in panic gathering all trash and clothes away. Lando was coming over. Fuck Lando was coming over.

It was Saturday pre-evening. In their original plans Max would have been meeting Lando outside his building so they could go grab some burgers to eat. In reality Max had been waiting for Lando’s message all day after George left the shop. Either Lando canceling the hanging out or asking for support. Max was really glad it was the latter. Even though it also freaked him out.

How do I help a friend that is dealing with heartache? How do I help a friend that is dealing with heartache that you are also possible in love with? How to know if your friend is heartbroken? 

Max didn’t have the time to do any google searches when there was already a knock on the door. Max hurried to the door taking a deep breath before opening it. Lando looked at Max, his eyes red and puffy. He had a bag on his shoulder and just looked at the other boy's eyes full of sadness. Max felt his heart break just by looking at Lando. 

”Hey”, Lando whispered with a hoarse voice just looking at Max.

Max didn’t have any words. He opened his arms to Lando who walked right into him pressing his face against Max’s chest starting to sob. Max wrapped his arms as tightly as possible around Lando one hand in his hair and other on his back running back and down. He knew this would comfort him so it was all he was able to do. 

Max moved enough to kick his apartment door close before easily lifting the other boy up. Lando wrapped himself around Max fully pressing himself against him as Max carried him to the sofa sitting down carefully. Lando curled to the lap fully just letting his emotions out.

It took fifteen minutes before Lando’s breathing was calm again. Max’s shirt was now wet from the front but he just held Lando as close as possible not knowing what else to do. He pushed all of his thoughts and feelings to the side just focusing on Lando. When Lando seemed fully calmed down, Max spoke carefully.

”Lando”, Max said softly Lando moving enough to meet his eyes. Max moved his thumb to carefully wipe the other boy’s tears away. ”Would you like some tea? To calm down?”

”With milk”, Lando nodded with a tiny voice to Max. Max nodded right away leaning to press a kiss to his head before walking to the kitchen.”Thanks.”

”Anything for you Lando”, Max promised him. Lando tried smiling a bit. ”Whatever you want and need. Always for you.”

Lando looked at Max, his eyes glimmering. He gave him a smile and a nod wiping a tear off. Max smiled focusing on making the tea for Lando. He had fruity flavour thinking it would at least taste sweet. He walked back to the sofa giving the mug to Lando before sitting close with his own mug in his hands. He looked at Lando just staring at the mug for a while without saying anything.

”The flowers you picked were really pretty”, Lando said quietly just looking down. ”Probably one of the best bouquets you have done honestly.”

”Well I know what you like so it was easy to do”, Max shrugged trying to smile. Lando lifted his gaze and an empty smile. Just ask, Max told himself. ”What has happen Lando? What did George do?”

The question had been spinning in his head going from ”he has killed someone” to ”he has forgot some important date again”. It was probably somewhere between those maybe closer to the second one. Flowers really don’t do anything in face of a crime, Max thought.

”He cheated on me”, Lando said after taking a sip of his tea. Max tried to keep his reactions to a minimum. Oh, he thought. ”Or I don’t know… Does kissing count as cheating? Well I count it… Maybe.”

”I am so sorry Lando”, Max said right away. He didn’t know what was the right thing to say. ”You… I could go punch him for you if you want?”

Lando chuckled at that a bit and Max felt his heart flutter. At least he had got Lando to laugh. Maybe he was doing something right after all. Lando sipped on the tea again before putting the mug away.

”I don’t think that is necessary”, Lando gave Max a smile and ran his hand through his hair. ”It’s all a mess now. I’m a mess now.”

”Well I think is okay to be a mess now”, Max tried to comfort Lando. He looked down to his own mug a bit. Trying to brace himself for the next question. ”So… You guys breaking up?”

”I don’t know”, Lando shrugged a bit looking away again. ”I mean George doesn’t want to break up. He said kissing Alex was a drunken mistake and I want to believe that… But I need time to think.”

Max nodded to Lando fighting against his instinct to scream and shout that there was simply nothing to even think about. It wasn’t a mistake. No way was it a mistake. Even Max had heard the name Alex enough many times to know he and George were close. This would happen again.

”But I just”, Land sighed, running his hand through his hair. ”I don’t want to think about this right now. Just want to spend some time with my friend now!”

Lando’s smile was empty when he said the last sentence but Max just nodded to him. That he could do. Talking about feelings yeah not really his strong suit. Trying to get Lando’s mind off everything with games and movies. That sounded better. 

“Okay so what game you wanna start with?” Max smiled at Lando grabbing his phone from the coffee table. “And what do you want to eat? I can order us food.”

“Can we order from two different places?” Lando asked making puppy eyes at Max. The other boy smiled a bit more. Even without them he would always say yes. “And I wanna play fall guys because is funny when you get mad.”

“You are lucky you’re the king tonight”, Max sighed but couldn’t hide his smile. Lando let out a soft chuckle at Max’s dramatics. “And we can order even from three places if that’s what you want!” 

And that is exactly what they ended up doing. Lando’s favorite mozzarella sticks from one place, burgers from another and on top of that big milkshakes from a third shop. They played almost all of the games Max had before in the end just putting on a movie to watch. Or a movie for Max to watch.

Lando was snuggled against Max’s side while the older boy had his arm wrapped around him. Max let his fingers move in a soft circle oon Lando’s bicep while the boy was slowly falling asleep against him. Max didn’t say anything half focused on the spiderman movie and half focused on just having Lando close. 

Soon Lando was fully asleep against Max and he was left with the problem what to do now. Max moved his fingers to Lando’s hair for a moment just thinking of the night. He had been the person Lando had come to. Once again he was the person. That felt good. 

But then he thought about why Lando was there. Fucking George, he thought just looking to Lando. How could anyone do that to him? To cheat on this sweetest boy ever. Lando deserved better. Max really wanted to be the better for him but honestly he was scared. And even if he didn’t want to understand why Lando just didn’t break up right away, he understood bits of it. George seemed like a dream from all the good stories of them.

Max lifted Lando carefully to his arms standing up from the sofa. Lando didn’t even show signs of waking up instead pressing his face to Max’s chest. Max walked to the bedroom and carefully laid Lando on the bed making sure he was comfortable. He pulled a blanket over Lando before just crouching down and looking at the boy.

You are getting creepy, Max told himself but spent a moment just stroking Lando’s cheek. The tear tracks were still there. I think I love you, Max thought. He took a deep breath before grabbing his pyjamas and leaving the room. You are screwed. 

Max laid on the sofa closing his eyes tightly. His head was aching but it was nothing compared to the ache he felt in his heart. Tomorrow everything will be better, he thought. Just need some sleep. 

He managed to get few hours of sleep before he was woken by a teary voice.

”Max”, Max felt a soft push on his arm. He opened his eyes taking a moment to realise Lando was staring at him. He sniffed loudly. ”I wok- I woke up and I ca- can’t sleep.”

”Okay okay”, Max pushed himself to sit right away rubbing his eyes quickly. He was still a bit hazy but Lando needed him. ”I… How can I help Lando?”

”I don- I don’t want to to be a- alone”, Lando tried calming his sobs to get words out. Meanwhile Max had already stood up wrapping his arms around Lando pulling him close. ”Can you co- come sleep wi- with me?”

This was definitely crossing some kind of line, Max thought but nodded to Lando right away pressing a soft kiss to his hair. Lando looked up giving Max a teary smile before just pressing his head against his chest. Max begged that Lando wouldn’t hear how his heart was beating like crazy. 

Max ended up carrying Lando to his bedroom laying him on the bed carefully. As soon as he laid next to him, Lando curled against him just taking deep breaths. Max wrapped an arm around the smaller boy again holding him close. He listened to their breathing for a moment before whispering.

”You wanna talk about it?”

”No. Wanna sleep.”

Max nodded to that moving enough to get a blanket over them. He focused on stroking Lando’s back waiting till he was sure Lando was asleep. Only then he closed his own eyes trying to get some sleep. The night was way too long.

The morning was quiet. When Max woke up, Lando was already awake scrolling on his phone. He was still cuddled against him, resting his head on his chest. Max was able to catch a glimpse of Lando’s phone before Lando noticed he was awake. Lando had clearly been going through old pictures. 

Max asked once again if Lando wanted to talk about it, but the answer was a head shake. 

Max ordered them breakfast, his fridge surprise surprise empty again, while Lando took a shower. They ate breakfast while Shark tank was running once again on the tv. The silence was absolutely killing Max and he kept gazing to Lando in worry. Finally after a second episode ended on the tv Lando opened his mouth.

”I’m ready to talk.” 

”O- okay”, Max turned the volume down on the tv and turned fully towards Lando. He wanted Lando to talk but was suddenly unsure of what to say. ”Do yo- you want me to ask you questions or?”

“No I think is actually just better if I say what I want and… You don’t have to react”, Lando said lowering his gaze away from Max. I have a bad feeling about this, Max thought swallowing hard. “I’m not going to break up with George. The kiss was only a drunken mistake after all and I’m not throwing two years away just because of some silly mistakes and possible tiny feelings… We just need to work on us together.”

“Pretty sure George is the one who should work on you guys”, Max said automatically his mind not even giving time to think. Lando lifted his gaze to meet his eyes. “You have done nothing wrong. He is the one who fucked up. He is the one who seems to be having feelings for someone outside your guys’ relationship. Not you.”

Lando didn’t say anything to that just staring at Max for a moment. Max waited for a reaction or at least something on Lando’s face that would tell him what the other boy was thinking. There wasn’t anything and it was starting to make him frustrated. Lando had done absolutely nothing wrong in the situation. Max really didn't’ understand how he was fine with it all. 

“It is what is it”, Lando finally shrugged and Max just sighed. “And no more talking about this subject. I have made my decision and I’ll stick to it… Now you think we could still play few rounds of Fifa before l leave?”

No, Max thought. Absolutely fucking not. We are going to talk about your stupid decision till you realise that you don’t belong with George and that guy is shit for you. No we will not play Fifa and act like everything is okay. 

“Of course!”

I hate myself, Max thought as he stood up to get the controllers. 

#

”George kissed someone and Lando is not breaking up with him!” Max groaned at Daniel. He was fuming just punching the pillow in his lap. ”What the fuck is wrong with him? How can he continue to be with a cheater?”

”I really hope you didn’t say that outloud to him”, Daniel raised a brow at Max sitting next to him on the bed. Max glared at him which made Daniel chuckle. ”Well it’s you! How can I know how you react?”

He had come to Daniel’s apartment as soon Lando had texted him on Sunday evening ’everything okay  😊 thanks for all the help’. No everything wasn’t okay. This was definitely not okay. None of this was okay. Max wanted to punch someone. 

Max admitted that he didn’t have a lot of experience in dating. Actually if you didn’t count Daniel, he had none. But this still felt absolutely stupid and something that wouldn’t end well. Lando deserved better. So much better. The more he thought about everything the angrier he was just getting. 

”Okay Max let’s talk this throu- No!” Daniel grabbed the pillow off Max’s lap as he started to punch it again. Max pouted to Daniel right away. ”Max listen to me now. Lando loves George and he wants to stay with him. Does that suck? Yeah it does. But what are you going to do about it? You will be a supportive friend to Lando!” 

“But h-” Max tried to start but Daniel just hit with a pillow at that point. Max growled at the him but just wrapped arms around the pillow quickly. “This sucks so bad. And hurts so bad.”

“I know it does”, Daniel sighed a bit reaching to squeeze Max’s arm with a comforting smile. “It hurts now but it won’t always hurt… I mean you got over me and look at me. The perfect package.”

“Who got over who is questionable”, Max laughed a bit which made Daniel smile. I love my best friend, he thought smiling at Daniel. “But… I guess you’re right… And Lando is probably hurting too anyway. I’m just being selfish now.”

“No you’re not… Or okay maybe a bit but honestly it’s fine. And yeah Lando is hurting and he needs you. But he doesn’t need the judgy Max. He needs the Max with the biggest and caring heart.”

“There’s a Max like that?” 

“Yeah he comes out like one every full moon but when he is around he is pretty amazing.”

“You’re so fucking weird Daniel.”

“Bit weird seems to be your type anyway.”

This time the pillow hit Daniel straight to his face. 

#

“What up buttercup?” Max lifted his head up when he heard Lando’s voice. He had been fully in a zone going through orders and calendar and he got stuck just staring at the other boy. Lando just smiled brightly. “Was that too weird? What you doing? Is Daniel here yet?”

“Wait wait slow down a bit”, Max looked at his friend before gazing to his calendar again. Daniel? Daniel wasn’t working today… Wait why did Lando even say Daniel. “Did you just say Daniel?”

“Sorry got caught up with a coworker and didn’t realise the time”, Daniel barged in to the shop panting a bit from running before Lando had a chance to answer in any way. “Have you been here long?”

“Nah I just came here you aren’t late”, Lando smiled to Daniel before both just turned to look at Max with a smile. 

Max looked between Lando and Daniel just confused, slowly moving to pinch his wrist. This had to be some dream right? Since when Daniel and Lando knew each other? He had no idea what was happening anymore. 

“I’m so confused”, Max managed to finally get out. That only made Daniel and Lando chuckle. “Why are you both here? Dan you aren’t supposed to work today.”

“Yeah I wasn’t but then Lando messaged me and said that you need a break”, Daniel started explaining while Lando was just looking at Max with a smile. “So you are now going to go change your clothes and go get coffee with Lando while I work for the rest of the day and also tomorrow afternoon. And no you can’t fight me on this.”

Max’s gaze moved to just look at Lando. It had been couple of weeks of since Lando came to him after George’s mistake. First few days after it had been quiet with barely any messages or play resquets but slowly they had fallen back to the habit of texting and spending evenings gaming. They hadn’t however actually seen each other since then. Max had been purposely avoiding that happening and to be honest it had been easy. Work had been overwhelming with Lando’s plan with getting new customers through instagram had worked. So he focused on work and not seeing Lando so he could at least pretend he was getting over him. 

Seeing Lando in front of him now just reminded him how far he was from getting over his feelings. 

“Alright go change your clothes I’m taking over”, Daniel’s voice brought Max back and he started pushing the younger man to the backroom. “You really look like you need a break!”

“I’ll wait for you here!” Lando yelped to Max with a smile while he just got pushed to the back. 

Max let himself get pushed to the backroom but grabbed Daniel’s arm before he could leave him. He was still confused over everything and just looked at Daniel helpless.

“You talked with Lando?” Max hissed to Daniel not wanting Lando to hear them. ”What is happening?”

”Look I know you are trying to avoid him but he messaged me on ig telling me that he is worried”, Daniel talked quietly to Max, the smile falling off his face. ”That you are working too much and he asked if I could do something about that… He seemed worried and honestly I should have come help you here much sooner but we will talk about that later. Now change clothes and go!”

Lando was worried about me, Max thought just trying to process everything. Lando had actually reached Daniel to help. That made Max feel like his heart might break from happiness but it definitely only messed with his thoughts more. He looked at Daniel still unsure.

”I know Max I know”, Daniel gave him a kind smile and a squeeze to Max’s arm. ”Lando seems so excited and he needs a friend. Be the supportive friend now. And after is done we can hang rest of the day.”

Max took a deep breath and just nodded before quickly heading upstairs. Max trusted that he could be the supportive friend over messages or call on discord. In real life though? He really didn’t trust to keep his reactions in away Lando wouldn’t notice. This will be hell.

But then he came back to the shop, in fresh clothes, and saw Lando and Daniel laughing over something on Lando’s phone and Max felt like it was the best possible thing to see and he couldn’t help but smile. Lando noticed Max coming a big smile on his face.

”You took long but definitely looks good”, Lando smiled brightly making Max’s cheeks blush right away. ”Ready to go?”

Max nodded right away but gave Daniel a helpless look as he and Lando walked out of the shop. It was already late to the fall and Max pulled jacket better on him as they walked side by side on the street. He wasn’t sure what to say but for his luck Lando always did.

”I hope it was okay that I messaged Daniel”, Lando smiled to Max softly gazing at him. ”You just seemed kinda tired on the calls and I haven’t even seen you in so long because you work so much. I hope I didn’t cross any lines.”

Yes because of work I’ve been away, Max thought.

”No don’t worry is fine”, Max smiled softly to him. Damn he had missed Lando’s smile. ”Thanks for caring about me. That is really sweet.”

”Of course I care about you Max”, Lando smiled brightly right away. Max’s heart beat a bit faster. ”You are like the best thing that has happened to me in this city. You are my best friend! And I really missed you.”

Oh, Max thought, staring at Lando. This is definitely not helping with the crush, Max thought but couldn’t do other but smile. He nudged Lando a bit trying to hide his blush.

“I missed you too”, Max admitted smiling. “And don’t tell Daniel but you are taking his spot as my best friend.”

Lando smiled proudly at Max as they reached the cafe. They walked into the small cafe Lando insisting on buying both of their drinks before they settled to a corner table. Lando asked about Max’s work and Max asked him about his school. They managed to dance around the certain topic for a while before Max couldn’t take it anymore. He definitely didn’t want to discuss this but he just wanted to be a supportive friend. 

”So how are things between you and George?” Max asked lowering his gaze to his mug. He saw Lando tensing a bit. ”All good? Where is he right now?”

”Yeah everything is good”, Lando smiled a bit nodding. Max nodded as well. ”And he is actually studying with Alex at the moment.”

What? Max’s gaze shot up right away staring at Lando. What the hell? This probably wasn’t what good friend would do but he pushed all that away. Not when this craziness was happening.

”George is hanging out with Alex and you are fine with it?” Max asked, eyes wide. How stupid was Lando? ”How is that possible?”

”I am showing him that I trust him”, Lando shrugged a little looking away from Max focusing on the coffee cup. ”Because I can trust him. Look, the kiss was one mistake. Our relationship is so good otherwise.”

”Such a good relationship you slept on my sofa because of a fight?” Max said his voice rising without him noticing. That’s it, he thought. I can’t stay silent anymore. ”Or do you think I haven’t heard George complaining about you always playing when we on discord? Or have you forgotten how George always puts studying before you? Sounds like a good relationship.”

”I… I… You don’t know anything about mine and George’s relationship. Who are you to judge th- What fight you talking about that has not happen?”

”Yes it has! I saw the texts between you guys when you came over lying to me that George was studying with friends. I might be crossing a line he-”

”Yes you crossed the line Max! This is my relationship! You have never even had a relationship! You have no right to judge mine!”

Lando was standing at this point just staring down to Max , his voice filled with anger. Max felt some of the customers look at them but he didn’t dare to look away from Lando even though it hurted. Lando’s eyes were filling up with tears as he looked to Max. I fucked up, Max thought, swallowing hard. 

”Lando I-”, Max tried to reach to touch Lando but the other boy took a step back simply grabbing his jacket. 

”No Max no”, Lando got the jacket on him. Max felt his heart starting to break. This wasn’t happening. ”You really crossed the line.”

Max let his head drop when Lando left the cafe without another word. He pressed his face to his hands begging that it was only a bad dream. This was just a nightmare and he would wake up in his bed. Just a dream. 

Fuck, Max thought when he lifted his head again and opened this eyes. He was still at the cafe Lando’s half empty coffee cup in front of him. The customers had turned back to their own conversation only few people gazing to him. Max didn’t care about the gazes though. Not when he fucked everything up. 

Lando had walked out on him. Lando had possibly walked out of his whole life. He swore he had never been in such bad pain before. 

Max sat in the cafe for the next twenty minutes just staring forward on the table. Part of him is keeping up the hope that Lando is coming back. Just a small explosion and he will come back. 

Lando didn’t come back.

”What are y-” Daniel started as soon as Max walked back to the shop but the usual smile dropped right away. 

Max had stopped fighting the tears his whole face just wet. He was shaking a little, not caring that there were customers in the shop. He walked straight to Daniel pressing himself against him just breaking to sobs. He couldn’t imagine that this had actually happened. He had fucked up so bad. He had lost Lando. The second best thing that had ever happened to him (he had to admit that meeting Daniel and through him a new life had to be the first one). Now he lost it. 

Daniel got Max to the backroom for enough to simply close the shop early. Rest of the day Max stayed in Daniel’s lap desperately needing the comfort. Daniel just held him close trying to tell him that Lando will come back and even if he wouldn’t Max would be okay. Max managed to send Lando a message telling him he was sorry and he messed up. 

Lando left him on read.

#

Daniel tried to tell Max to keep the shop closed the next day. That he deserved a break and a free day but Max refused. Work was all he got before Lando. It was the one thing he was able to focus on and do well. He didn’t want to spend a day just thinking about Lando and missing him. 

He only closed the shop for ten minutes when he walked over to Lando and Geroge’s apartment door. He had never actually been inside their place other than peaking inside while waiting for Lando to get ready to hang. 

He didn’t go inside this time either. He didn’t even knock on the door. He simply left a flower bouquet of neon green and light orange flowers in front of the door. There was a note attached to the flowers just stating again how sorry Max was. He wasn’t really hopeful that it would work at all. 

And he was right. At least for a few days. There was no message from Lando. Not to his phone or discord. He wasn’t even online. There were no updates on Instagram either. He even checked George’s instagram. There was nothing new on either. That made Max feel even worse. 

He couldn’t understand how he had fucked everything up so bad. He just wanted to know that Lando was okay. That Lando didn’t hate him too much. That Lando would one day one day still want to be friends with him. 

Three days after the explosion there was finally a message on Max’s phone. Max never kept volume turned on his phone but now he was just begging for a message from Lando. He was middle of a meeting with a client over flowers for wedding when his phone finally let out a noise. He didn’t even excuse himself, he simply launched on to his phone right away. 

’thanks for the flowers max. they were really pretty’

’i’m at my parents place atm’

’don’t know when i’ll be back’

’i’ll let you know’

’is everything okay?’

’wanna talk?’

’everything ok’

’don’t want to talk’

Max started at the messages heart both what felt like breaking and beating again for the first time in a long time. Lando liked the flowers. He would let him know when he would be back. At the same time that was all he got. And Lando didn’t want to talk to him. 

“Max?” Max turned his head a bit when he heard the bride look at him confused. Oh right, Max thought. Work. 

“Yeah sorry I’ll be right back”, Max said quickly still turning to his phone again. 

’I hope you are doing well’

’thanks max. same to you’

Max wanted to send another message desperately. He finally had some connection to him and he didn’t want to let go. What about if Lando would never message him again? On the other hand if he continued messaging him that could screw everything up even more. 

Max took a deep breath putting the phone on silent before heading back to the customer.

”Sorry about that”, Max gave the woman his best fake smile focusing on his notes again. ”So what kind of roses was it?”

Later that evening Max showed up at Daniel’s door with a foggy head and pout on his face. Daniel took one look at Max before simply pulling Max to a tight hug. Max relaxed against his friend focusing on just on the fact that at least he had Daniel.

Daniel who let him talk his heart out even when he wasn’t good with feelings. Daniel who would hold him when he needed touch. Daniel who would also tell him truthfully how everything was. 

“You are not going to message him anymore”, Daniel told Max with a firm voice as they sat on the sofa together. Max dropped his gaze. “You will wait for his message. He needs space and so do you. So now you just take a step back and it will get better. Okay, Max?”

Max forced himself to look at Daniel and nod to his friend. Gosh he hoped Daniel was right. That it would get better. Better for both him and Lando. 

#

It had been a week since Max last saw Lando and it’s not getting any easier. There hasn’t been any new messages. No posts on any social media either. Just full on radio silence. And Max tried to cope with that.

Of course coping meant throwing himself full to work. He did all the paperwork during evenings, woke up extra early to go through inventory, looked for new places to get flowers from, watched videos of new techniques, focused on editing new pics for Instagram. He did everything to distract his mind. 

It was going fine. Sure he was bit more tired lately and grumpier to customers. Okay he wasn’t eating that much either lately. And Daniel kept nagging at him for being a mess. But… it was going just fine, he thought.

It all stopped going fine when a young man walked to the shop looking around the place. Max lifted his gaze from his laptop a bit and the guy gave him a big smile. Max just kept looking at him thinking there was something about him.

”Hey I need like a bouquet or something”, the boy walked over to the counter while Max stood up better. ”Is kinda like a first date thing so nothing too fancy.”

Ah first date. Ah love. Ah disgusting, Max thought but simply nodded. 

“What’s his favorite colour?” Max asked almost in a robot voice. His go to question. However this time the answer made him stop. 

“Light blue and red”, the boy smiled brightly to Max. 

Wait. That wasn’t the first time he had heard that answer. He stopped to look at the boy. Why did he look a bit familiar? What was it about h- Oh.

“You’re Alex”, Max blurted out just staring at the man. He had done enough of Instagram stalking on George’s page to know this was Alex. This had to be Alex. “Are you getting these flowers for George?”

“Uh yeah”, the boy looked at Max confused. Max felt anger starting to grow in him. How dare this fucker mess with George and Lando’s relationship? But… Did he say something about the first date? “How do you know my na- You’re Max!”

“Yeah but”, this time Max was confused. Why the hell this guy knew his name? The nerve he had. “How the fuck do you know my name?”

“I asked that question first. You answer it first!”

“Well Lando talked about you so I… I stalked your instagram and… Those are George’s favorite colours. Now you!” 

“George told me Lando has a new best friend named Max and that you do flowers but I didn’t know that here… I too stalked your instagram.” 

Max stared just stared at Alex before breaking to a little smile. Alex ended up letting out a little chuckle as well. This was absolutely ridiculous, Max thought. Like a scene from a rom-com or a romance movie. Here they were staring at each other. Alex is assumed to be in love with George. Max in love with Lando. Fuck this was stupid… But what did Alex say again?

“Why are you going on a date with George?” Max asked Alex. That made no sense. “That means George is cheating.”

“No he is- Wait you don’t know?” Alex’s eyes widened in the middle of the sentence. Max only got more confused. What he didn’t know? “George and Lando broke up a week ago.” 

Max felt his whole heart drop to the bottom of his stomach. Lando and Geroge had broken up? They had broken up a week ago? He had no idea about it. Lando hadn’t told him. Not that Lando told him anything nowadays but a break up? I feel ill, Max thought. It must have been shown on his face as well as Alex took a step closer with a worried look. 

“Max sorry I didn’t know that you didn’t know this”, Alex said with a comforting smile. “They had a talk about their feelings and ended up deciding that they weren’t working anymore. George told me few days ago… Lando hasn’t said anything?”

“We are not speaking at the moment”, Max admitted just lowering his gaze. That really hurted him. Lando had broken up and he wasn’t there to help him. “He just… He just told me he is going home for a moment.” 

This felt like a betrayal, Max thought. Then he thought back to their last meeting and how angry Lando was. It was exactly one week ago. That meant Lando had broke up during that evening with George. He didn’t come to me, Max thought. 

He shook his head a bit. He didn’t want to fall to that hole. Not now. He was in work. He needed to focus. 

“Let me do the flowers for you”, Max forced a smile to Alex starting to get the flowers for the bouquet. He did a simple one, nothing too fancy for a first date. Alex and George’s first date. He sighed before handing it to Alex. “There you go.”

“Thanks”, Alex smiled excited taking the flowers looking around them. Max just nodded. “This is so beautiful.”

Alex payed while Max stayed quiet. His whole mind was full of thoughts just overwhelmed. What did this mean? Was Lando ever coming back? Didn’t Lando want to even talk to him anymore? Will this pain ever end? Does this mean Lando might like me?

“Max”, Max lifted his head when he heard Alex’s voice. The boy had stopped by the door gave him a soft smile. “From listening to George talk about Lando and you… I’m pretty sure Lando likes you and you will get your first date too.”

I really hope so, Max thought. Max gave Alex a smile and a nod. He watched other boy leave the shop and head to the neighbouring building. He hoped he and George had a good date. He really hoped that. 

Max stood still for a moment before grabbing his phone. Fuck what Daniel had said. He needed to text Lando. He didn’t even stop to think about what to write simple sending Lando his thoughts.

‘alex got george flowers today’ 

‘he told me you two broke up’

‘lando you are my best friend and I’m always here for you’

‘I want to support you. I don’t want to lose you’

‘I’m still so sorry for what I said… sorry’

‘I really miss you’

Max didn’t even get the phone down before it vibrated with notifications. He saw Lando’s name flash there. He took a deep breath getting ready for the worst that could happen before opening the messages.

‘i’’m coming back on friday. we see then’

‘i miss you too’ 

Huh, Max started at the messages. It wasn’t what he had expected. He felt ill. 

It was full new kind of ill though. Lando wanted to talk to him. Lando missed him. Lando was coming back. Lando missed him. Alex believed Lando liked him. Lando missed him.

His head was all new kind of messed up now but for first time in a week he was able to smile a true smile.

#

When Friday finally came around, Max was a mess. Lando had messaged him the day before asking if it would be okay that he would come over in the evening. Max had answered yes in a heartbeat. 

Daniel had promised to do the Saturday shift in case everything went to absolute hell and Max would just be a wreck. Daniel had also noted that he would also do the shift in case things actually went like Max’s dreams. Max had only glare at him for saying that. He didn’t have that much hope. 

Daniel also shared some wise words: “Stay calm. Don’t be angry. Don’t say anything stupid. Actually just do everything that is against your instincts”. That had possible even make Max more of a mess. 

When the doorbell rang, Max jumped up from the sofa as fast as possible. He took careful steps to the door stopping to take a deep breath before opening the door. On the other side was Lando with a small smile on his face. He looked good. God damn it he looked so well. 

Dear god did it feel good to see Lando’s smile and Max smiled right away. That was the reaction Lando had in him. The other reaction was just pulling Lando to a hug and hold close but instead he just stared at him. Lando was actually there. Lando was actually there smiling at him. 

“Hi”, Lando told him, his smile getting a bit bigger. He didn’t dare to come into the apartment just lingerie by the door. 

“Hey”, Max managed to say back. Do it. Freaking do it. Max opened his arms little just very carefully. “Yo- Y- Hu- Hug?”

For one second he was sure Lando would say no and he was already able to see Lando walk away from him but instead the smile on the other boy’s face just got bigger and after a few quick steps two arms were wrapped tightly around him. Max closed his eyes just holding Lando close while burying his face to the other boy’s neck while Lando just pressed himself fully against Max. 

The time stopped and everything felt like it was okay again. Like they hadn’t just spent a week without talking to each other. Like they hadn’t had a big public explosion. No. Instead it felt like a normal Friday night when Lando would come around for gaming and eating. Instead they were two best friends hugging finding comfort in each other. 

“I missed you so much”, Lando said as he pulled away slowly but didn’t move his arms away. “I’m sorry that I just left and didn’t message you and everything that happened in the cafe… That was all so stupid I just needed to clear stuff.”

“No fuck Lando I’m the one that is sorry!” Max said right away strongly. He looked to Lando to his eyes wanting to show him how serious he was. “I crossed the line so badly and honestly the fact that you even want to be around me after all that means so much to me… Lando I was the one to fuck up everything between us.”

“Well you might have been the one to cross the line but it was actually just good”, Lando said looking at Max. Max’s look turned confused. His whole outburst had fucked everything up. How was it a good thing? Lando took a step back from Max. “We have to talk… Can you make me the good tea again like last time?”

“Of course!” Max answered right away moving to the kitchen while Lando headed over to the sofa. 

Max kept gazing over at Lando while he got the water coming and mugs out. Lando was really there and he had hugged him and missed him and most importantly he was there. That should give him some peace but at the same time. The whole ‘we have to talk’ and ‘it was a good thing’ scared him a lot. 

“There you go”, Max smiled giving the mug to Lando as he sat down to on the sofa. He left some space between him and Lando just to be sure. Lando smiled taking the mug and sipping from it while Max just looked at him. He had only one question in his mind. “So… What exactly happened after the cafe?”

“I… okay so I left pretty angry”, Lando admitted lowering his gaze to the mug. Max wanted to reach to touch him but fought to keep the distance. “Or not angry… More like hurt. Not hurt by your words as much that they were true… Me and George yeah it hadn’t been going that well since moving here but is not really George’s fault… or it was both of our fault really because… Well we both did something bad.”

Fuck this, Max thought and placed his mug to the table. He moved himself a bit closer to Lando but unsure whether to touch him or not. But apparently just moving closer was good because Lando lifted his gaze and gave him a soft smile. Max smiled back at him. 

“I couldn’t really stay angry at George because I knew that if we had been drinking together I would have probably kissed you”, Lando looked straight at Max when he said those words. Max’s whole body tensed and his smile fell. “Because it might be clear that George and Alex have feelings for each other but I definitely have feelings for you.”

“Yo- You have feelings for me?” Max managed to get out barely able to form words. Lando had feelings for him. Oh my god Lando had feelings for him. He actually said it out loud. “Wh- Why?”

“Why I have feelings for you?” Lando asked before letting out a little chuckle and leaned to put his mug away. “Because you are so sweet to me and caring. Because we like some much of the same stuff. Because you are freaking hot… Look I can keep on listing these things for you but… Do you have feelings for me? Because if you don’t, is fine too…”

For the first time ever Lando looked insecure when he looked at Max. Max looked at Lando his heart almost beating out of his chest. Lando really liked him. He really liked him. Max broke to a big smile as he reached to hold Lando’s hand.

“Fuck Lando I’ve been crushing on you since like first time we met!” Max smiled. The look on Lando’s face changed to an excited smile and he squeezed his hand tightly. “Ask Daniel what mess I’ve been when talking about you or what a mess I’ve been while you were gone. I thought I had lost you as my friend for forever.”

“You couldn’t lose me… ever”, Lando promised Max but let his smile fall a bit with his gaze. “I got back to the apartment after like an hour of just walking around trying to clear my thoughts and the only thing in my mind was that ‘I have to end it with George’... It turned out he had came to the same conclusion.”

“So we had a long talk that day about everything that had gone wrong”, Lando continued and this time Max moved closer wrapping his arm around him. Lando leaned to him a bit. “We cried a lot. In the end we decided that there is no reason to continue and that is better we are just friend and I can live in the apartment till I find a new place… I found your flowers the next day and my head was an absolute mess and I really wanted to come to you but it wouldn’t have been fair so I just grabbed my stuff and left to my parents.”

Lando avoided Max’s eyes just looking down to his lap leaning more against him. Max just tightened the hold around Lando trying to process everything Lando just told him. He knew he should probably feel really happy - okay part of him did feel that - but mostly he felt guilty and bad that he couldn’t be there for Lando. But also he got it. It was all a mess. 

“And that leads us here”, Max said carefully and Lando nodded. Max took a very shaky breath before continuing. “So… Umm what now? Because I get that if you want and need time and like I just want to be your friend if you need that right now… What now?”

“Yeah that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out”, Lando sighed lifting his gaze again. His eyes were glimmering with tears. Max pulled him fully to his lap cupping his face softly. “Because damn Max I like you so freaking much but also I just broke up with George and I’m still a mess and it feels unfair to throw it all on you and I’m basically like homeless at the moment because is George’s parents apartment and I gotta move out but I have no place to go and I ju-”

Lando’s breathing was getting quicker and the words started to become more messy just spilling all the words out. Max did the only thing he could think of and the only thing he had wanted for weeks. He pressed his lips against Lando’s just pulling him closer by his waist. Lando let out a little noise of surprise before kissing Max back wrapping his arms quickly around Max’s neck pulling him to a deep kiss. 

When Lando pulled away, they both stayed close just looking at each other pressing their foreheads together. Honestly Max felt like he might burst from happiness. Finally. Fucking finally. He had lost all hope in this ever happening but there Lando was in his lap and he had just kissed him. 

Everything around the whole situation might still be a mess but it was okay. All okay. 

“Look we… Okay you can stay here till you find a new place I’m sure Daniel will help you find one”, Max started speaking quietly. “And we don’t have to be official or anything I get it that you need time and we go as slow as need and I just want to support you and even if we never end up being anything more fuck Lando I can’t lose you even as a friend.”

“And you will never lose me”, Lando promised once again. He looked at Max for a moment before continuing with a bigger smile. “Right now though can we just like have a night like before with just playing and eating crap food and laughing and all that because I don’t want to think or talk about anything right now.”

“Yeah that we can definitely do”, Max chuckled a little nodding and grabbing his phone opening the food ordering app and giving it to Lando while holding him close. He looked at Lando smile excited scrolling through it. Max focused on pushing every thought of the mess away and focused on just having Lando in his arms. One question popped up to his mind though. “What about Alex and George? Do you know how they are doing?”

“Umm not the best at the moment but I know they will end up together in the end”, Lando hummed while picking a restaurant and showing to Max who nodded to him. “They like each other a lot so… They will make a cute pair… Okay so what you want from here?”

Oh, Max thought. He thought back to Alex coming to the shop so excited. Something must have happened. But when he looked at Lando he forgot all about that and focused on picking what he wanted to eat. He had Lando in his arms. That was the most important part.

They ordered a huge amount of food and got Shark Tank on like the good old times. Expect this time Lando was snuggled against Max while the older boy played with his hair softly. They didn’t speak just focusing on being close after such a long time. Max was okay with this. He had still hard time believing this wasn’t one of his dreams. One of the good ones.

”Max?” Lando broke the silence after a moment. Max hummed turning to look at Lando. ”I know I said I want a night like we used to but I wouldn’t mind if we added kissing to that.”

Max chuckled and pulled Lando to a kiss. He was more than okay with that. 

Later that night Max sent Daniel a message telling him to take the shift the next day. He got an answer back quickly. 

’go get it maxy’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this fic! I hope you enjoyed! Kudos and comments are very much appreciated <3
> 
> And yes this has now been turned to a [series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171388). Alex's pov of what is during this story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29982705/chapters/73815150)
> 
> Come say hey to my tumblr : [maxynorris](https://maxynorris.tumblr.com/)


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